Castaway Cay critters

[SteveMP]

Well if you do see any jellyfish, just bounce off the tops of them and you'll be fine.

 

[mevelandry]

We've seen jellyfishes, starfishes, lots of fishes, stingrays and barracudas. You don't have to go far. I've seen all of them while having water to the hips or lower.

 

[dcassetta]

You have to wonder about people sometimes. I'm assuming it all was well, which means the next time they came upon a shark they probably also followed it.

A shark of the size the previous poster mentioned, 2 to 3 feet, swimming in clear water, is really not a threat to people. While black tips do sometimes bite people, it most always occurs in the surf area where the sand is all stirred up, in the shark can't see well. As long as following the shark means just swimming along and not pestering it, I see no concern there.

 

[Rabb it]

Always like when these threads come up, so that I can repeat my story:
At Serenity Bay, I am on the beach, and DW is on a raft about 20 yards out. I start walking out to take her picture and all the little fish around me scatter. I start looking around and see a 2-3 foot Black Tip shark cruising through the water. Picture did not come out due to angle of sun and reflection off the water. My DW is splashing the water with her hands to move the raft, so I tell her to stop because I see a shark. So what does DW do, she jumps off the raft and makes a bigger splash. The shark turns towards her. I have to run to get between her and the shark.

Checkout this thread: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2371788
this thread is originally from 2010 but has pictures of sharks and other sea life taken at CC.

That sounds nuts, I tried to check out that thread for some pics but my work computer doesn't allow the pictures to load. Gonna have to wait till I get home

 

[mmouse37]

Saw this guy in the snorkeling lagoon last August at CC.

MJ

 

[dcassetta]

Saw this guy in the snorkeling lagoon last August at CC.

MJ

So cool!

 

[TrishaK]

Just got off a double dip cruise on the Dream. We had no issues.

 

[Stellar01]

Just to see if people are reading...



Sea lice are larval jellyfish. You could see them? And they were covering things, not just moving in the water?

I just read about sea lice and from what I've read they are microscopic and not visible to the human eye.

 

[RedSox68]

View attachment 247948

Saw this guy in the snorkeling lagoon last August at CC.

MJ

I just love turtles! Great pic!

 

[amk43]

I read your post and was about to reply that we'd just been there and all was well, but then I looked at the date of your post and realized we were on the same cruise.

 

[Ravenne]

Sea lice: the struggle is very real on CC, depending on the time of year. Both times we've gone, my kids have gotten stung. Never actually saw the sea lice, but the evidence of their existence is real. The first time, SO many kids on our cruise got stung. They'd come out of the water wailing and screaming. My oldest got stung that time. Flushed her body with as hot water as she could tolerate and she was fine by dinner time. Second trip, my youngest got stung. Just a couple of stings here and there, not a big deal. Not until a few days after we got home, he spiked a fever. Took him to the doctor, swapped him for strep, ran a battery of tests, all of which came back negative. We couldn't figure out what was wrong with him, until I stumbled upon this article: http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/06/health/sea-lice-attack-florida-swimmers/index.html
I had no idea, but fever and flu-like symptoms are sometimes the result of sea lice stings. So, just a heads up.

With that out of the way, we saw a lot of fishes, many that swam right up to the water's edge. They're not afraid of people. While snorkeling, we saw sea turtles, including a baby one in 2014.

 

[meliscan]

I have never had any issues but our table mates met with some seal lice on the our cruise the first week of September last year at CC. There are lotions and things you can buy before you go to help with it I believe.

 

[GPaLarry]

Been there four times and snorkeled each time with no problems with sea critters. Now, about the post office...only open once during 4 visits. Rest of stay was great.

 

[Soontobegoodsell]

We have seen sting rays (both at the encounter and in the wild at Serenity Bay), lots of shells, hermit crabs, starfish, and fish.

 

[DisneyGirlMI]

Been there four times and snorkeled each time with no problems with sea critters. Now, about the post office...only open once during 4 visits. Rest of stay was great.

We've been to Castaway 7 times and not once has the post office been open.

 

[GPaLarry]

We've been to Castaway 7 times and not once has the post office been open.

That's one record that is not meant to be broken...yikes! We were lucky that one time.

 

[RedSox68]

That's one record that is not meant to be broken...yikes! We were lucky that one time.

Last time we were told it is only open for one hour and it is sometime in the morning. So you'd have to leave the beach and go back to the post office to catch it. I've never seen it open when we get off the ship nor on our way back at the end of the day!

 

[GPaLarry]

Last time we were told it is only open for one hour and it is sometime in the morning. So you'd have to leave the beach and go back to the post office to catch it. I've never seen it open when we get off the ship nor on our way back at the end of the day!

One time we asked a lifeguard if she knew if the post office was open, she called and reported that it was. We hustled over and...no, closed again.

 

[RedSox68]

One time we asked a lifeguard if she knew if the post office was open, she called and reported that it was. We hustled over and...no, closed again.

Bummer!